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Cover

Current Debates in Comparative Politics

Second Edition

J. Tyler Dickovick and Jonathan Eastwood

Publication Date - 22 January 2018

ISBN: 9780190855024

192 pages
Paperback
7-1/2 x 9-1/4 inches

Accessible, contemporary readings on key controversies and debates in comparative politics

Description

Designed for introductory courses, Current Debates in Comparative Politics, Second Edition, presents forty-three readings drawn from major magazines and newspapers including: The Economist, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and The New Statesman. Addressing theoretical, methodological, and practical issues, the selections include scholarly readings that introduce students to key debates in the field along with more informal readings that help students to engage with the material and see how it relates to their daily lives.

An excellent stand-alone text, Current Debates in Comparative Politics, Second Edition, is also a perfect companion to the editors' textbook, Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, Methods, and Cases, Second Edition (OUP, 2016), as its selections are organized thematically into sixteen sections that correspond to the chapters in the text. Each section includes a short introductory essay and discussion questions that guide students in their reading.

New to this Edition

  • Over thirty new readings
  • Updated editorial introductions, discussion questions, and preface

Features

  • High-quality, accessible readings designed to introduce students to key debates in comparative politics
  • Discussion questions at the end of every section
  • Works both as a stand-alone text or a companion volume

About the Author(s)

J. Tyler Dickovick is Grigsby Term Associate Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University.

Jonathan Eastwood is the Laurent Boetsch Term Professor of Sociology at Washington and Lee University.

Reviews

"I think the comparative advantage of the book is that it purposefully engages non-scholarly texts. It is looking for that 'real-world' aspect to comparative politics." --Harold Orndorff III, Daytona State College

"The three major advantages of Current Debates in Comparative Politics, Second Edition, are the text's readability, the succinct chapters, and, by and large, the very good breadth in terms of coverage." --George K. Kieh, University of West Georgia

"I like the 'current' part of the book, as the articles are mostly new, and of the older articles, they are mostly popular. The book provides a good stepping stone for debate and discussion in my courses, after my students work through the tougher readings in the field. In short, I'd describe it as an informative and fun comparative current events text, ripe for debate." --Joshua Dix, University of Georgia

"This is a solid comparative politics companion reader. It covers some topics, like ethnic conflict, much better than many other texts out there and many of the institutional discussions are much more developed than in similar readers." --Susan K. Glover, American University

Table of Contents

    Preface
    Acknowledgments

    SECTION 1: CRITICAL THINKING AND THE COMPARATIVE APPROACH

    WANT TO BE A BETTER CRITICAL THINKER? HERE'S HOW TO SPOT FALSE NARRATIVES AND 'WEAPONIZED LIES'
    Warren Berger, Quartz, February 22, 2017

    SCHOLARSHIP AND STATESMANSHIP
    Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Journal of Democracy, April 2005

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 2: THEORIES, HYPOTHESES, AND EVIDENCE

    I'M VERY INTERESTED IN HEARING SOME HALF-BAKED THEORIES
    Roberta Foit, The Onion, November 9, 2005

    WHAT DO SCIENTIFIC STUDIES SHOW?
    Gary Gutting, The New York Times, April 25, 2013

    LUNCH WITH THE FT: PHILIP TETLOCK
    Robert Armstrong, Financial Times, July 8, 2016

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 3: THE MODERN STATE

    VENEZUELA ON THE BRINK: A JOURNEY THROUGH A COUNTRY IN CRISIS
    Jonathan Watts, the Guardian, October 11, 2016

    THE FAILURE OF THE FAILED STATES INDEX
    Lionel Beehner and Joseph Young, World Policy Blog, July 17, 2012

    LEADER: THE BREAK-UP OF BRITAIN
    New Statesman, March 15, 2017

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 4: POLITICAL ECONOMY

    SOCIAL POLICIES DON'T ALWAYS HELP WOMEN AND MEN EQUALLY: WHICH ONES WORK BEST?
    Sidita Kushi and Ian McManus, Monkey Cage, Washington Post, January 10, 2017

    PUT GLOBALIZATION TO WORK FOR DEMOCRACIES
    Dani Rodrik, New York Times, September 17, 2016

    DRAWBRIDGES UP: THE NEW DIVIDE IN RICH COUNTRIES IS NOT BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT BUT BETWEEN OPEN AND CLOSED
    The Economist, July 30, 2016

    SECTION 5: DEVELOPMENT

    PROOF THAT LIFE IS GETTING BETTER FOR HUMANITY, IN 5 CHARTS XX
    Max Roser, Vox, December 23, 2016

    GET READY TO SEE THIS GLOBALIZATION 'ELEPHANT CHART' OVER AND OVER AGAIN: THE NON-WINNERS IN GLOBALIZATION ARE THE WESTERN WORLD'S MIDDLE CLASSES
    Luke Kawa, Bloomberg, June 27, 2016

    WHAT DATA CAN DO TO FIGHT POVERTY
    Annie Duflo and Dean Karlan, New York Times, January 29, 2016

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 6: DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIZATION

    END-TIMES FOR LIBERAL DEMOCRACY?
    Interview of Yascha Mounk by Zachary Laub, Council on Foreign Relations, December 28, 2016

    NO, PEOPLE REALLY AREN'T TURNING AWAY FROM DEMOCRACY.
    Erik Voeten, Monkey Cage, Washington Post, December 9, 2016

    WAS THE 2016 U.S. ELECTION DEMOCRATIC? HERE ARE 7 SERIOUS SHORTFALLS
    Dan Slater and Lucan Ahmad Way. Monkey Cage, Washington Post, January 12, 2017

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 7: AUTHORITARIANISM

    A CONVERSATION WITH LEE KUAN YEW
    Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, March/April 1994

    CAN DUTERTE 'POPULISM' BRING LASTING PEACE, DEVELOPMENT?
    James Putzel, Inquirer.Net, August 28, 2016

    HOW TO LOSE A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
    Azia Huq and Tom Ginsburg, Vox, February 21, 2017

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 8: CONSTITUTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN

    WHY REFERENDUMS AREN'T AS DEMOCRATIC AS THEY SEEM
    Amanda Taub and Max Fisher, New York Times, October 4, 2016.

    WHY IS NEPAL'S NEW CONSTITUTION CONTROVERSIAL?
    Charles Haviland, BBC News, September 19, 2015

    NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO TALK OF FEDERALISM IN SYRIA.
    Doris Carrion, Newsweek, March 18, 2016

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 9: LEGISLATURES

    GETTING MAJORITARIANISM RIGHT
    Timothy M. Meisburger, Journal of Democracy, January 2012

    GETTING ELECTIONS WRONG
    Andrew Reynolds and John M. Carey, Journal of Democracy, January 2012

    SIX KEY ISSUES FOR CHINA'S MEETINGS OF THE NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS.
    Nathan Vanderklippe, Globe and Mail, March 2, 2017

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 10: EXECUTIVES

    THE MERKEL MAGIC: TEN YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG.
    Claire Greenstein and Brandon Tensley, Foreign Affairs, November 27, 2015

    WHY RUSSIANS LIKE VLADIMIR PUTIN'S WARS.
    Erik C. Nisbet and Elizabeth Stoycheff. Washington Post, September 13, 2016

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 11: INTEREST GROUPS, POLITICAL PARTIES, AND PARTY SYSTEMS

    SPLITTERS: TOO MANY PARTIES CAN SPOIL POLITICS.
    The Economist, January 12, 2017

    THIS IS HOW KENYANS WANT THEIR DEMOCRACY TO WORK.
    Leonardo R. Arriola, Donghyun Danny Choi, and Victor Rateng, Monkey Cage, Washington Post, October 15, 2016

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 12: REVOLUTIONS AND CONTENTION

    TURKEY'S BAFFLING COUP
    Dani Rodrik, Project Syndicate, July 17, 2016

    SOUTH KOREA'S CANDLELIGHT PROTESTS AS A PEACEFUL FORCE.
    Sun-Chul Kim, Asia Times, February 12, 2017

    APP-POWERED PROTESTS PUT DEMOCRACY IN PERIL
    Bessma Momani, Toronto Star, August 12, 2013

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 13: NATIONALISM AND ETHNO-NATIONAL CONFLICT

    HERE'S WHAT CONGO CAN TEACH THE WORLD ABOUT PEACE
    Severine Autesserre, Monkey Cage, Washington Post, October 19, 2016

    CONFLICTS WITHOUT BORDERS
    Stefan Wolff, The National Interest, April 25, 2008

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 14: GENDER, RACE, AND ETHNICITY

    IS EUROPE READY FOR NON-EUROPEAN MIGRANTS?
    Tom Turner and Christine Cross, The Irish Times, November 3, 2015

    PROMOTING WOMEN'S POLITICAL REPRESENTATION OVERSEAS
    Sarah Bush, Scholars Strategy Network, January 2013

    HERE'S HOW ATTENTION TO GENDER AFFECTED COLOMBIA'S PEACE PROCESS. XX
    Roxanne Krystalli and Kimberly Theidon. Monkey Cage, Washington Post, October 9, 2016

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 15: RELIGION, IDEOLOGY, AND POLITICS

    HOW FRENCH SECULARISM BECAME FUNDAMENTALIST.
    Robert Zaretsky, Foreign Policy, April 7, 2016

    THE FUTURE OF HISTORY: CAN LIBERAL DEMOCRACY SURVIVE THE DECLINE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS? XX
    Francis Fukuyama, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2012

    Discussion Questions

    SECTION 16: COMPARATIVE POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

    CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE GRIM LOGIC OF COLLECTIVE ACTION
    Joseph Heath, Toronto Star, December 20, 2015

    HUMAN MIGRATION WILL BE A DEFINING ISSUE OF THIS CENTURY. HOW BEST TO COPE?
    Alexander Betts, The Guardian, September 20, 2015

    PEACE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY?
    Bruce Russett, Current History, January 2010

    Discussion Questions

    Index

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